Stopbullying Blog

Category Archives for Secondary school

Today, StopBullying.gov launched two new videos and an animated GIF that address the issue of labels and how words can do harm. This project is a result of regular engagement and collaboration with one of the main audiences for StopBullying.gov: teens.

Communication professionals pride themselves on coming up with big ideas and big messages. I am one of those people, but I also recognize when I may need a little help connecting with my audience. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a teen’s shoes, much less the fashionable variety worn by the youth of today.

My work with StopBullying.gov has afforded me a great opportunity to regularly work with teens and to gain a better... Continue Reading

The United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) organization was an early partner in federal efforts to stop bullying. For the past 37 years, our goal has been to foster the spiritual, mental, physical, and social development of American Indian and Alaska Native youth and to help build a strong, unified, and self- reliant Native America through greater youth involvement. Since 2002, we have been working with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to help educate American Indian youth on bullying prevention and provide them with the tools to be more than a bystander.

We’ve seen the need for prevention efforts evolve over the past several years, specifically in relation to the mascot issue, as many schools and sports teams may accept native names that are actually considered offensive. Our Youth Councils recognized that bullying was a... Continue Reading

Understanding what excites and concerns youth is one of the critical ingredients to Cartoon Network’s success. That’s why we knew we had to act when we learned that nearly 85 percent of our youth audience was concerned about bullying and needed information on how to prevent it.

When we first launched Stop Bullying: Speak Up, we saw a great opportunity to make kids smarter about bullying and to also strengthen our connection with kids and families. Our goal was to develop an awareness campaign designed to provide resources for parents, kids and educators and explain in simple terms, the variety of ways people can take action to resolve the bullying issue and prevent it from happening. But like many things in business,... Continue Reading

An image can be more impactful than hundreds of words – especially when it is used to raise awareness of an important issue. Tifara Brown and her peers used photography to deliver a message about bullying prevention.

Classmates bullied Tifara from elementary school until high school. Tifara is an African-American whose parents raised her in a religiously observant and conservative household. She had to deal with negative stereotypes of African-Americans as being less competent than people of other races. In addition, she was often teased for her religious beliefs and choices.

“I was raised in church, and my faith is a huge part of my life and who I am. I was negatively labeled as a ‘church girl’ for years and bullied about my modest clothing. As an African-American in advanced classes, I was often made to feel weird or unwanted whenever I... Continue Reading

By: Ben Powell as told to Michelle Boyd, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Ben Powell has been performing for others since the age of 3. Now at 19 years old, he enjoys acting, singing, and playing the guitar and trombone. As a high school student, Ben used his talents to impact his community. Specifically, Ben and his peers created a theatrical production to spread awareness about the potential consequences of bullying. With the support of his high school drama teacher, he and other students developed the project:

“Our drama teacher approached us and presented the idea that a message to students may be more effective if their peers delivered it. So, our drama class wrote the script. We also helped design the sets, and were the main actors in the production.”

The group called the project Teen Reality. Similar to a haunted house attraction, audience members walked through the sets to view the different scenes. The plot centered on several youth. These youth included... Continue Reading

The Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention, a group of representatives from across the federal government came up with a great way of having youth and adults partner to hold a dynamic bullying prevention initiative. Continue Reading

In the world of social media and online networking, the issue of safety continuously arises, particularly among teenagers. Cyberbullying, bullying that takes place using electronic technology, has unique challenges when compared to more traditional forms of bullying.

Parents need to be aware of what their teens are doing online and talk with them about cyberbullying and other online issues regularly. Initiate open conversation early on to reduce the teen’s fear of losing their electronic communication privileges when they disclose cyberbullying instances.

When using a site such as Facebook, parents need to discuss how their teen uses the site and with whom they share their posts. Is the teen communicating privately or publicly... Continue Reading

Back when MySpace was popular, almost every student at my high school had a profile. For us MySpace was an online-place where we could thoroughly express ourselves. We would post pictures from our latest and greatest adventures, update our status to our current mood, and choose backgrounds and music that represented who we were as a person. However, at one point during my high school MySpace became less of a space for self-expression and more a place of cyberbullying.

Tina Fey’s Mean Girls made popular the “Burn Book,” where a group of popular girls, known as “the Plastics” would write rumors, secrets, truths and lies about their fellow students and teachers. My high school’s “Burn Book” took the form of several online MySpace pages,... Continue Reading

Tyler Pascavis wants us to talk about bullying. Tyler, 18, is a native of Illinois, a lifetime member of the 4-H, and an anti-bullying advocate who believes that the only way we can put a stop to bullying is to bring it out in the open. At the school Tyler attended most of his life, Tyler found that the administration was not willing to admit there was a problem with bullying. A high-level school administrator once stated that bullying was not a problem at the school, so students who experienced bullying were left to suffer in silence. As someone who was bullied when he was young, and eventually someone who engaged in bullying himself, Tyler saw firsthand how staying silent on bullying could be as harmful as the bullying itself.

Last April, Tyler had the opportunity to travel to Washington, DC for the 4-H National Conference. There, more than 200 teens from across the... Continue Reading

As Secretary Duncan has noted, the Department of Education is committed to making sure that all of our young people grow up free of fear, violence, and bullying. Bullying not only threatens a student’s physical and emotional safety at school, but fosters a climate of fear and disrespect, creating conditions that negatively impact learning—undermining students’ ability to achieve to their full potential. Unfortunately, we know that children with disabilities are disproportionately affected by bullying.

Factors such as physical vulnerability, social skills challenges, or intolerant environments may increase the risk of bullying. Students who are targets of bullying are more likely to experience lower academic achievement, higher truancy rates, feelings of alienation, poor peer relationships, loneliness, and depression. We must do... Continue Reading